Stars Like Us: Abeer Kobeissi

Stars Like Us is a space where we at 2famous highlight certain citizens in Beirut whose awesomness cannot be ignored. Something they do is so inspiring or impressive that we consider them a star like us.

Abeer Kobeissi isn’t just a classic beauty strolling the streets of Beirut. She is the founder and CEO of Beirut Vintage Bazaar, our city’s most prominent source of fashionable vintage clothes at unbeatable prices.
She started her first bazaar last year in the garden of Zico House and has shot to fame since then. As many of us know, finding vintage clothes in Lebanon is difficult, especially if you’re not ready to shell out major cash. But Abeer has figured out a way to find second-hand clothes, select the finest, and make them very (poor pauper) pocket-friendly.

When the men of 2famous showed up, Abeer showered them with yellow gifts. Her eye for fashion and style showed through with Jorgo’s 80′s-inspired polyester pullover and Mr. Matias’ more classic wool sweater.

It’s not just the threads that impress us. With less than a quarter century under her belt, Abeer has already and singlehandedly trudged through the bureaucratic world of business and authority in Lebanon. Obtaining permits from the municipality for her pop-up shop on the stairs took time and endless energy . Plus she works at home mending clothes, shining shoes, and livening up leather to give her customers the best quality goods they can buy.

But like the mercurial temperatures of Beirut, we don’t know when the next market day is so stay updated with the Beirut Vintage Bazaar on Facebook and flash an elegant wave to Ms. Kobeissi if you happen to chance upon her on the street.

Electric Youth, cherished in my heart for their dreamy electro sound and renowned for their song ‘A Real Hero’ on the Drive soundtrack, just released a video for ‘Runaway’ which is directed by Noel Paul and cast and shot in Lebanon.

Back when Layal and I started our own radio show we broadcast through a spotty Internet source at our favorite local beer joint in Beirut.

While hardly anyone in Lebanon had good enough Internet to stream the show, and those outside Lebanon couldn’t rely on the weak stream to listen either, we were lucky enough to have the space, equipment, and support to try our hands at something I had never even done before.

The idea of two audacious and liquored up ladies spouting off stories and erotic news was novel to all five-to-ten people drinking at that bar, and for that, we are grateful. With the “anything-goes”, “be as wild as you want” and “explore your creativity” spirit, we were able to grow, evolve, and get an idea how to become better entertainers.

Radio Beirut was awesome to us.

But then we moved to Norway and things got real. Because in Norway, the radio is a BIG DEAL. Like, almost 100% of the Norwegian pop... more

Camping, off-festival events, environtmentalism, and the biggest acts in Lebanon

“It doesn’t get better than Wickerpark.” says Philippe Manasseh, lead singer of last year’s Canadian-Lebanese headliner Wake Island, and recent member of How Sad, also part of the 2014 lineup.

For the fourth year in a row, Junior Daou and his family open their large swath of land for a day of music, art, and environmental awareness to the Lebanese people. It is the highly anticipated grassroots project that has turned into a proper annual event on the Batroun coastline: The Wickerpark Festival.

If you’ve been to the Wickerpark Festival before, don’t just expect another one-day concert. When Daou first started WP the goal was simply ‘To make a festival where local acts get to perform on a proper stage with proper sound and light.” This year’s festival has a couple of awesome events that mark a drastic expansion since its inception as well as a fresh new line... more

You know what, I’m glad the Middle Eastern Gulf region is taking into account all kinds of sexy when it comes to deporting men.

Because the most recent deportee is a 55-year old German man, Rolf Buccholz, internationally known for holding the Guinness World Record in having the most body piercings.

Buchholz flew to Dubai to party it up at Circque le Soir, a club that promises to bring out all the freaks and fantasy fetish stuff, as a paid appearance. But at the Dubai Airport he was denied entry into the Emirate on the account of possibly being a High Priest of the Dark Arts and a practitioner of Black Magic. Yes, that is why he was denied entry, because he looked as sexy as a Black Magic Priest. And yes, I would probably be wooed by him.

Norwegians are the masters of understatement. When something is gargantuan, they’ll say ‘It’s a bit big’ and when something’s breathtakingly beautiful, they’ll say ‘It’s nice.’ If a friend made a $10 million profit on a business deal, they’d claim he made ‘a bit of money.’

I still don’t understand whether it’s humor or specific cultural brain wiring (for example: how different cultures understand time). But there is one thing that reassures me in all of this, a ray of hope that cuts through the vague cloudiness which always has me scratching my head asking “Is he/she joking…?” — and that is when a Norwegian talks about the Lofoten Islands.

Because they don’t understate anything about it. Any Norwegian will tell you how magical Lofoten is — how emotional it is to stand next to giant mountains that dive straight into the sea, or how disoriented one b... more

In March my sister, Margaux, sent me a Youtube video with a perfectly succinct message: “This is Lena Dunham’s boyfriend. She directed the video.” Dunham’s boyfriend is the guitarist of Fun and started the band Bleachers as a solo project. Loved Lena’s video, died for her boyfriend’s song, “I Wanna Get Better!”

Admittedly Margaux knew how to pique my interest with the reference, but that day I became a Bleachers fan too. The thick riffs did what they wanted to my body, the lyrics “I didn’t know I was lonely till I saw your face” literally made (makes) me cry; I played the song on repeat and told my boyfriend to dance at a distance in case I exploded into a rainbow — it was that wonderful.

2famous.TV - One of those sweet, sweet things that people do to entertain you. We started as two, but now we are more! We cover all sorts of cool stuff, primarily from the Middle East. Yes, you can contact us on: jorgen + (@) + ekvoll.com